Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 2005 Chevrolet Corvette
Only 6 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure gets reported
There are 11 reports of control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 2005 Chevrolet Corvette, 6 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 15th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 80,000 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $700–$3,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 10 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2008, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2005 at 80,000 miles.
By volume the 2000 carries the most reports, with 17; the 2005 has 11. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
The low beam headlights go out after the engine compartment gets warm. Then when the engine compartment gets cool they will work again. From my research online and through the chevrolet dealer it appears that the fuse box in the engine compartment alters the low beam signal circuit to the body control module when its temperature rises. This is obviously a design problem that has potentially tragic safety implications. The repair through the chevrolet dealer was quoted to me as $1,200. The problem fuse box has no moving parts to wear out. There is nothing the car owner could have done to prevent this issue from occurring. It is sad owners have to pay to repair a part that shouldn't wear out because of a design flaw. *tr
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 chevrolet corvette. The contact stated that the active handling system light remained illuminated and he was unable to shift out of park. The key had to be turned to accessory in order to shift from park. The vehicle was taken to several dealers to have a diagnostic performed. The brake switch, the transmission control module, and the brake switch were replaced but the failure was not corrected. The failure mileage was 80,000 and the current mileage was 85,000.
This is a recurring but intermittent problem with the exact same symptoms as described for non-corvette gm models in NHTSA campaign number: 14v252000 "the brake lights to illuminate without the brake pedal being pushed; the brake lights to not illuminate when the pedal is pushed; difficulty disengaging the cruise control; moving the gear shifter out of the 'park' position without pushing the brake; and disablement of crash avoidance features such as traction control, electronic stability control, and panic braking assist features." I have noticed that the problem often initiates when driving over a bump, suggesting an intermittent open or short wiring issue. Then later things will return to normal for days or weeks. Chevy dealer first recalibrated the "brake pedal position sensor" then later replaced and recalibrated it; both non-warranty repairs. The problem continues with the next recommended action to replace the BCM at $700+ cost. *tr
Also reported on the 2005 Chevrolet Corvette
Other driver assistance problem
Headlight failure or clouding
Other electrical problem
Other body or interior problem
Other steering problem
Other brake problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 11 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 11 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure happen on the 2005 Chevrolet Corvette?
Across 6 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 80,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure on the 2005 Chevrolet Corvette?
11 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.6 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed